The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1887-09-22
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Power OF tho Gospel Shown by
Overwhelming Proof.
Faith the Christians Invincible Weapon
Z in the Confict--Mere Argument as
s Nothing Before the Testimo-
nv of Witnesses.

ny of Witnesses.
"The Facts Proved" was the subject OF
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage's fifth sermon at
ssThe Hamptons," the discourse being
founded on the following text:
We are wituesses.-Acts ill.,, Is.
In the days of George Stephenson, the
perfecter of the locomotive engine, the
scientists proved conclusively that rail-
way train could never be driven by steam
power successfully and without peril; but
the rushing express trains from Liverpool
to Edinburg, and from Edinburg to Lon
don, have made all the nation witnesses of
. the splendid achievement. Machinists
and navigators proved conclusively that
steamer could never cross the Atlantic |
ocean; but no sooner had they successfully |
proved the impossibility of such an under
taking than the work Wis done, and the |
passengers on the Cunard. and the Inman,
and the National, and the White Star lines |
are witnesses. There went up q guffaw |
of wise laughter at Prof. Morse's |
proposition to make the lightning of
Heaven hi. GRAND boy, and it was proved
conclusively that the thing could never be
done; but now all the news of the wide
world, put in your hands every morning
and night, has made all nations witnesses.
So in the time OF Christ it was proved
conclusively that it was impossible for
him to rise from the dead. 1t was shown
logically that when man was dead he
was dead, and the heart and
the liver and the lungs having ceased to
perform their offices, the limbs would be
rigid beyond all power of friction or
arousal. They showed it to. be an abso-
lutte absurdity that the dead Christ should
get up alive; but no sooner had they
Il proved this than the dead Christ arose,
and the disciples beheld him, and they
took the witness-stand to prove that to be
q true which the wiseacres of the day had
proved to be impossible; the record of the
experiment and of the testimony is in the
9 text:
Him hath God raised from the dead, whereof
are witnesses.
Now, let me play the skeptic for a mo-
ment.
'sThere is no God," says the skeptic, "for
have never seen him with my physical
eyesight. Your Bible is a pack of contra
dictions. There never was a miracle.
Lazarus was not raised from the dead,
and the water was never turned into
wine. Your religion is an imposition on
the credulity of the ages"
pew as though he would like to respond.
Here are hundreds Of people with faces a
little flushed at these announcements, and
oil through this house there is sup
pressed feeling which would like to speak
out in behalf of the truth of our glorious
rs Christianity, as in the days of the text,
crying out:
We are witnesses.
The fact is, that If this world Is ever
g brought to God it will not be through ar
gument, but through testimony. You
might cover the whole earth with apollo
gies for Christianity and learned treatises
in defense OF religion-you would
not convert a soul. Lectures
on the harmony between science
and religion are beautiful mental discip-
line, but have never saved a soul, and
never viii save soul. Put man of the
r. world and q man of the church against
each other, and the man of the world will
in all probability get the triumph. There
are thousand things in our religion that
seems illogical to the world, and always
will seem illogical.
Our weapon in this conflict is faith, not
logic: faith, not metaphysics; faith, not
profundity; faith, not scholastic explora-
ton. But, then, in order to have faith, we
must have testimony, and if 500 men, or
1000 men, or 500, coo men, or 3, 900 men
get up and tell me that they have felt the
religion OF Jesus Christ a joy, comfort, q
help, an inspiration, am bound as a fair
minded man to accept their testimony.
want just now to put before you three
propositions, the truth of which think
$ this audience will attest with overwhelm
ing unanimity.
The first proposition is: We are wit
nesses that the religion of Christ is able tc
convert a soul.
The Gospel may have had hard time tt
conquer us, we may have fought it back
but we were vanquished. You say con
version is only an imaginary thing. VIZ
=. know better.
We are witnesses
There never was so great a change il
our heart and life on any other subject a.
on this. People laughed at the mission
aries in Madagascar because they preached
ten years without one convert; but Their,
are thirty-three Thousand converts in Mad
agascar to-day.
People laughed at DR.. Judson, the Bap
fist missionary, because he kept ON preach
ing in Burmah five years without singh,
s. convert; but there are twenty Thousand
- Baptists in Burmah to-day. Peopl
laughed at DIR. Morrison, in China, TO
preaching there seven years without
single conversion; but there are fifteel
Thousand Christians in China to-day. PEG
pie laughed at the missionaries for preach
ing at Tahiti for fifteen years without
single conversion, and at the missionarie
"a for preaching in Bengal seventeen year
without single conversion; yet in al
those lands there are multitudes of Chris
tians to-day.
But why go so far to find evidences O
the Gospels power to save a soul?
We are witnesses
We were so proud that M man coul
have humbled us; we were so hard that n
earthly power could have melted us
angels of God were all around about us
they could not overcome us; but one day
perhaps at Methodist anxious-seat, or a
Presbyterian catechetical lecture, or a
burial, or on horseback, power seize
us, and made us get down, and made u
tremble, and made us kneel, and made u
cry for mercy; and we tried to wrenc
-1xxor &c. r.